The Uni-Trend UT804 bench multimeter is a total sheep in wolf's clothing, or to put it in a more crude manner, its a pile of POO !

I am unfortunate enough to own two brand new units.... They are still sat in their boxes under my bench. Both have intermittant faults and contain what can only be described as an average multimeter PCB bolted into the front of a large case. Not one of Uni-Trend's finest moments ! Fortunately the two meters ended up costing me postage only after I complained about the quality to the supplier.... he didn't even want them back....that speaks volumes.

To offset the above comments, I own the following Uni-T kit (and I'm not bragging here...its cheap enough to own lots !)

UT12A (mains electricity safety safety essential - came free with my UT-81B DSO) UT33B (5 off bought for GBP3 each !) Good for the car glove compartment.UT39A (a decent daily workhorse in my home office)UT58C (everyday workhorse in and around the home)UT61E (en route to me)UT70B (Large meter, happy with the performanace and PC interface included)UT81B (Love it... 40Ms/s DSO, well built & does what it says on the tin. It outperforms my Velleman HPS140i)UT105 (for automotive work on my Mini Moke - nice big display)UT201 (well I didn't have an Amper-clamp at the time is was bought....not used it yet !)UT603 (Decent enough LC meter)UT804 (The word Crap comes to mind !)UTD1025C (en route to me - looks nice and was bought cheaply as one channel dead - hopefully repair possible)UTG9010C (arrived today - looks nice. Initial thoughts are its OK for the price but not as good as my Digimess/Grundig FG100).UTL17 (the tweezers for SMD LCR checking...work well)

The only one that I have in my possession that fell below my buying expectations (price Vs performance) was the UT804....not a bad ratio really. I own Fluke bench meters and an 87 III and I would not expect the Uni-T products to be equal in view of their price point....BUT there is no excuse for a totally crap or dangerous UNI-T design as they have shown that they can build decent kit.

They look and feel good in the hand, lets hope that the contents of the cases keep up with the looks in terms of performance. If you buy some other Far Eastern built multimeter's, in the lower price bracket, it soon becomes evident how well UNI-T is packaging their product...others often have cheap nasty cases with moulding faults, flash and appalling mode selectors.

UNI-Trend....when they get it right, they are very good value especially for hobbyists.

It appears to me that the 'handheld' and 'bench' equipment lines are difrefent divisions within Uni-Trend. The 'bench' division need to up their game.

Wow, I am glad that some people were interested. I was kinda worried about coming off like a spammer since my first post was linking to a deal. LOL

Anyways, still waiting on mine, thats the biggest thing that sucks about ordering from chinese dealers. Having to wait a couple weeks to get your stuff.

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The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done." -George Carlin

I saw the official optional USB lead the other day....it has the optical link on one end and the standard USB 'A' plug at the other so its a pucka job, not just an adapter. The price was a shock though .... GBP28 !

I think one of the half decent Chinese USB to Serial adapters will be more than good enough for the uni-directional data link from the meter

First of all, a big "thanks" for the amazing knowledge you offer in this forum (as this is my first post!!!)

Has anyone, - ever - received an item from DinoDirect???I saw this thread and ordered UT61E (thanks PedroDaGr8 for the tip), and later discovered many bad reviews for this site.....Do you think there is any chance to receive anything from them?

First of all, a big "thanks" for the amazing knowledge you offer in this forum (as this is my first post!!!)

Has anyone, - ever - received an item from DinoDirect???I saw this thread and ordered UT61E (thanks PedroDaGr8 for the tip), and later discovered many bad reviews for this site.....Do you think there is any chance to receive anything from them?

SteveLuck in this thread already did and received his (he is in NZ though so it won't take as long). Keep in mind this is a chinese site. YOu will see a lot of bad reviews about not receiving orders because it can take 3+ weeks for a shipment to come in. People get antsy and the chinese haven't quite figured out customer service yet. Combine that and boom, lots of bad ratings.

« Last Edit: January 11, 2012, 02:29:14 am by PedroDaGr8 »

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The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done." -George Carlin

Looking at the backlight hack and reading the ES51922 data sheet the hold button might not be the best to use.

According to the data sheet there is a delayed hold function - press hold for > 2 seconds and the meter will wait 6 seconds before holding the display. Sounds as though it could be useful when you can't look at the display and get the probes on the measurement point. Hold also provides a display test if held for > 2 seconds as the meter is powered on.

Neither of these are mentioned in the UT61E user manual.

Why they didn't just put the extra two buttons for backlight and min/max so that all the functions of the chip could be used - it's not as if that would have lost market differentiation with the UT71 models.

SteveLuck in this thread already did and received his (he is in NZ though so it won't take as long). Keep in mind this is a chinese site. YOu will see a lot of bad reviews about not receiving orders because it can take 3+ weeks for a shipment to come in. People get antsy and the chinese haven't quite figured out customer service yet. Combine that and boom, lots of bad ratings.

I hope delay will be the only problem with DinoDirect!!!! I read many bad reviews concerning wrong items, non refunding, not recieving at all etc. Let's hope SteveLuck didn't use his "luck" part to get the item!!!!

Last time I ordered something from DealExtreme (same thing) took 3 months to receive (Greece)!!!!But I thing it has nothing to do with chinese people or chinese post. Chinese items from ebay usually arrives within 1 month max....So maybe these sites have some delay getting the "real thing" from their suppliers, and then send it out for posting.

Why they didn't just put the extra two buttons for backlight and min/max so that all the functions of the chip could be used - it's not as if that would have lost market differentiation with the UT71 models.

First of all, a big "thanks" for the amazing knowledge you offer in this forum (as this is my first post!!!)

Has anyone, - ever - received an item from DinoDirect???I saw this thread and ordered UT61E (thanks PedroDaGr8 for the tip), and later discovered many bad reviews for this site.....Do you think there is any chance to receive anything from them?

i took a gamble on a order from dino direct a year or two ago... they had a $50 or so charger incorrectly listed for $7. they honored every order placed before they caught the error. i received the charger a few weeks later in good order.

from what i gather they are hit & miss though... they do participate on the forum at rcgroups.com so there is a level of accountability over there. i don't shop there out of principle. their site is obnoxious and difficult to browse. the fake user reviews are unacceptable imo. if someone posts another crazy deal like the charger, im not so jaded that i won't place a order, i just don't deliberately look for stuff there. -sj

My UT61E, ordered on 2 January 2012, has arrived today in perfect condition

Upon opening the padded envelope I found a brand new unopened official Uni-Trend box intended for the Chinese speaking world. The instructions are in Chinese but that is not a problem as an English manual may be downloaded from Uni-Trend.All other features of the meter are in English.

I must say the quality of the unit is as nice as my other Uni-T meters and I especially like the neat little R/C/Temp and transistor tester adapter that plugs into the meters 4mm ports This meters design appears well engineered and executed.

Pictures attached.

From this personal experience of Dino Direct, I have absolutely no complaints. The communications were excellent and they delivered the required product in a very reasonable time frame. Good-on-ya Dino Direct.

Oh, and they supply a free 'cable tidy' fish for chargers and headphoned etc...in red of course Aurora